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About Eugene weekly. (Eugene, Oregon) 1993-current | View Entire Issue (June 17, 2004)
Ravi Logan (right) speaks to the 7th Annual Permaculture Guild gathering last year. The Eugene Permaculture Guild is orga- nizing a one day conference on Saturday, June 19 titled, “Towards a Vision of an Enduring Bio Region.” The gathering will in- clude five panels, plenary sessions, lunch, evening potluck, social time, and a showing of the newly released film The End of Suburbia. Topics range from neighborhoods and local culture to “consciousness transforma- tion.” Presenters include Jan Spencer, Hope Marston, John Zerzan, Allen Hancock, Rob Bolman, Ravi Logan, Cary Thompson, Mark Robinowitz, Jan Vandertuin, Todd Miller, Jude Hobbes, Jen Anomina, Steve Shapiro, Desta Moore and Susan Muir. Muir is with the city of Eugene Planning Department and will participate in the mid-morning work- shop on “The Two Sides of the Emerging EcoVillage/EcoCity Paradigm.” The gathering will run from 9:30 am to 8:30 pm Saturday at the Dharmalaya Center, 356 Horn Lane, off River Road. Cost is $10 to $25 sliding scale and work trade is avail- able. “The scope of the conference is to exam- ine a variety of attributes of an enduring bio region such as local economics, civics, neighborhoods, appropriate technology, communications, urban design and con- sciousness for a new culture,” say organizers. “The intent is to distill the discussions and presentations down into practical strategies for making healthy personal and community changes and a ‘Green Paper’ to be presented to the city in the fall.” The End of Suburbia looks at what might happen to suburbia when the rising cost of energy and resources makes our suburban way of life unaffordable. The concept of “peak oil” is explained and discussed. Interviews with researchers, petroleum in- dustry insiders and journalists present an image of the near future, 10 to 20 years from now. The following day, Sunday, will be a land use bike tour of Eugene, visiting positive ex- amples of land use designs and identifying trends. Meet at noon at the Eugene Public Library, Olive and 10th. The conference will include planning for the big Norwest Regional Permaculture Gathering coming up Sept. 11-12 in Eugene. For more information, call 344-0553 or 686-6761 or visit www.heliosnetwork.org/epg/events.htm BY PAUL NEEVEL T E RR Y M C D O N AL D In its 51-year history, the St Vincent De Paul Society of Lane County has had but two executive directors. The first was H. C. “Mac” McDonald, who took on the job, as a volunteer at first, in 1953. “I started in ‘65,” recalls Terry McDonald. “I had a part-time job fixing small appliances.” As a recent UO grad in 1971, he filled in as director while his parents took a round-the-world vacation. Afterwards, McDonald stayed on at the his father’s request. He became director in 1984, when Mac passed on. Since then, the local St Vinnie’s has grown from a few thrift stores into a multifaceted social and environmental agency. Salvaged U.S. textbooks are sold in Asia, and oak furniture discarded in England is sold in Eugene. “Our latest venture is a mattress deconstruc- tion facility in Duluth,” McDonald notes. “Mattresses are a nightmare in the waste stream.” The revenue from these activities funds social programs, such as homeless services and affordable housing. “We’ve built 700 units of housing,” he says, showing plans for a new building in Springfield. “The hallmark of our agency is the integration of community service and waste-based business.” — Paul Neevel 8 JUNE 17, 2004 AIDES: BUSH BECOMING ‘ERRATIC’ AND ‘PARANOID’ A June 4 article in the online political newspaper Capitol Hill Blue says worried White House aides are describing President Bush as becoming “increasingly erratic” and “a man on the edge, increas- ingly wary of those who dis- agree with him and paranoid of a public that no longer trusts his policies in Iraq or at home.” The story by Publisher Doug Thompson quotes the unnamed aides saying Bush’s inner circle is shrink- ing and the president is prone to “obscene tantrums against the media, Democrats and others that he classifies as ‘enemies of the state.’” The full story is at www.capitolhillblue.com PETA PROTESTS CRUELTY IN PET FOOD TESTING Eugene animal rights activists put on striped prisoner suits and dog masks and crowded together into small cages this week in a protest against allegedly cruel laboratory testing on behalf of the pet food company Iams. The protest was held June 15 near PetsMart off Chad Drive in north Eugene. The protest is part of PETA’s (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) inter- national campaign against the Ohio- based Iams, which was launched last summer after what PETA calls “years of failed negotiations.” In June, PETA filed a formal complaint with the Federal Trade Commission against Iams and its parent company, Procter & Gamble, for making allegedly false claims on the Iams website regarding the care provided to the cats and dogs used in the company’s re- search. “A recent PETA undercover investigation revealed deplorable conditions at an Iams contract laboratory,” reads a statement from PETA. “At least 27 dogs were killed, while others died of illnesses that went untreated.” The full report is available at www.iamscru- elty.com A spokesperson at Iams could not be reached for comment. The com- pany website (www.iamsco.com) says the company meets or ex- ceeds animal testing stan- dards of both the U.S. and European Union and says, “We will not fund or participate in any study requiring or resulting in the euthanasia of cats or dogs. We will conduct research that is the veterinary equivalent to nutri- tional or medical studies acceptable on peo- ple.” COURT STOPS LOGGING IN OLD-GROWTH RESERVE A federal court this week halted logging inside a protected old-growth forest in south- west Oregon in what is seen as a major test of the Northwest Forest Plan. The court June 15 stopped logging temporarily until the case can be further reviewed. Conservation groups raised concerns that the proposed logging is located in a legally protected old-growth re- serve, a salmon refuge, and in crit- ical habitat for the recovery of the northern spotted owl. Elk Creek, a tributary to the famed Rogue River, is “already abused by industrial log- ging on nearby private forestlands, but our public forests still help provide valuable salmon habitat and clean drinking water for cities downstream,” says Doug Heiken of the Oregon Natural Resources Council in Eugene. “Aggressive logging around Elk Creek will devastate the natural treasures that make Oregon such a special place to live, COURTESY OF PETA PERMACULTURE GUILD PLANS GATHERING
